Bodyguard Father

“Money. I heard they found an envelope of unexplained cash in my apartment after I left. It appeared I had motive, opportunity and the know-how because I worked briefly with munitions in the army. I was like the poster boy for this murder. Add to that the fact I got into a gunfight with Randy Larson when he tried to detain me, and it doesn’t look so good.”

“No,” she said, “it doesn’t. If you didn’t kill Elaine Greason and Klugg did then he’s going to want your mouth permanently closed.”

“Exactly,” he said.

For Annie, the euphoria of escaping the fire was being quickly replaced by anxiety. What was she doing in a world of murder and arson and assassins? She was a preschool teacher!

She thought back to hiding in the barn, to lurking in the hay loft, and suppressed a shudder.

“Tell me what else those men said.”

“It sounded as though they were ready to shoot me if they saw me.”

“I’m sorry I left you tied up,” he said. “It’s a good thing you’re such a pro at getting free.”

“Why would Shelby agree to that? What have I ever done to her?” Besides lie about my father’s condition, Annie added to herself. But no one was supposed to know about that.

“You’re apparently the only one who knows she’s out to get rid of me,” Garrett said. “But again, if Klugg is intercepting her messages, she may not even have gotten the one you left. It might have gone directly to him. When you met with her, did she say anything to suggest she wasn’t acting alone?”

Since Annie had never actually spoken with the woman, she shook her head. She got up and walked over to Scio, offering him the rest of her apple, glad to be out from under Garrett’s scrutiny for a second.

The big horse daintily sniffed the apple before nibbling from it with huge teeth. Annie handed it over, glad to escape with all her fingers.

“Did those goons say what they were going to do next?” Garrett said.

She turned to face him, standing with her back to Scio’s stall. She tried hard not to think about the many times she’d avoided death that night, but the harrowing memories were stacking up like planes over a busy airport. “When they decided to burn the house and barn,” she said, “I got the feeling it was to get rid of something. Not someone, something. Oh, and they said they would try the Reno place tomorrow. They said they would stake it out.”

Garrett grew very still. “The Reno place?”

“What does it mean?” she asked, stepping closer.

“The only place I had in Reno was an apartment at the back of Greason’s property. Even if it was still mine, they wouldn’t go there.”

“But it’s not yours anymore?”

“Of course not. A man doesn’t pay the rent for a man he believes blew up his loving wife.”

“I guess not.”

“Plus, he saw me shoot poor Randy. Trust me, Greason isn’t losing sleep worrying about keeping a roof over my head. And if two goons show up and he figures they’re in any way connected to his wife’s murder, he’ll have the cops there so fast…”

“How about your daughter? She lives in Reno.”

“But they don’t know her name. My ex took her maiden name back and I didn’t advertise Megan’s existence.”

“Did you tell Elaine or her husband about Megan? Might they have mentioned her to Elaine’s daughter?”

“They both knew about Megan, of course. I doubt I ever mentioned her last name, though.”

“Maybe I mentioned Megan on that damn phone message to Shelby Parker and if it’s true they’re intercepting her messages—”

“But you said you didn’t.”

“I said I couldn’t remember,” she corrected.

“Think, Annie.”

Events had been racing along at such a pace that Annie hadn’t really concentrated on what she’d told Shelby Parker before this. She bit her lip and took a few steps back and forth. “I told Ms. Parker you were in Poplar Gulch. I mentioned the name Ben Miller because I’d seen it on the mailbox and remembered it from your file.”

“My file?”

“Well—”

“Never mind, that’s how the thugs knew where to come look for me. Did you tell Parker how you happened to know about Poplar Gulch in the first place? About the picture of me in Ben’s truck taken outside my ex-wife’s house?”

Annie stopped pacing as her heart dropped to her feet. She faced Garrett. “Oh, my gosh, I did say just about exactly that. But I didn’t say her name.”

“Still, they know I have a daughter and an ex-wife.”

“If I’ve hurt your little girl because I was too stupid to remember this before, I’ll never forgive myself. I’m so sorry—”

Garrett reached for the cell phone. As he waited for it to power up, indecision stole over his face.

“What is it?” Annie asked, sitting down beside him again.

“I don’t know who to call.” He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. “It’s almost midnight.”

“I forgot your ex-wife is a dancer at one of the casinos. She’ll be at work.”

He looked up with alarm. “What else do you know about me?”

“Mother dead, father and brother in Oregon, infant nephew—”

“What? Infant nephew? Brady has a kid?”

“Named Nathan. And a wife. Former name Lara Kirk.”

“Lara Kirk? As in the Riverport Kirk family?”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I wonder what else I missed.”

“Call Megan’s grandmother,” Annie said.

“You know about my ex-wife’s mother, too?”

“She’s a semi-invalid and watches Megan while your ex goes to work. Call her.”